In a few hours, I will be taking a plane home to the Philippines. It's been more than a year since I left on a jet plane and it took a while before I became homesick, but now that I'm finally on my way home, I'm not quite sure what to feel. I look forward to all the comforts of home and seeing family and friends once again, but I know that it won't be all quite the same as before. And then there's the fact that I'm actually going home to do research for my dissertation, not just taking a vacation.

The song is "Home" by Daughtry. It was the song played when contestants were eliminated during the last season of "American Idol." The following are the lyrics that I think best describe what happened to me this year:

Be careful what you wish for,'Cause you just might get it all.You just might get it all,And then some you don't want.

I don't regret anything that I did during the past year, but I do know that I'm not in Kansas anymore =)

Before Daughtry, the only song entitled "Home" that I was familiar with was the one from the musical The Wiz. The video above is from the movie version, with Diana Ross as Dorothy. Some of its lyrics complement those from Daughtry's song:

Suddenly my world's gone and changed its faceBut I still know where I'm goingI have had my mind spun around in spaceAnd yet I've watched it growing